


Better Later Than Never

by Hopeful_Romantic



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Adult Content, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, PWP, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-01
Updated: 2012-06-22
Packaged: 2017-11-08 08:48:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/441372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hopeful_Romantic/pseuds/Hopeful_Romantic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“I always thought we’d have more time..."</p>
          </blockquote>





	1. Better Late Than Never

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I always thought we’d have more time..."

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Stargate Atlantis, if I did, season 4 would be different. *grin* The grand high Mucky Mucks own it, alas and alack. I am making no money from this ficlit and no copyright infringement is intended. Any similarity to any story not my own is coincidence and because frakking is frelling in any part of the universe.

 **Title:** Better Later Than Never  
 **Genre:** SGA; John/Elizabeth; fluffly/angsty smut; AU of course  
 **Rating:** NC-17; rated for graphic sex  
 **Timeline:** Sometime early Season 4  
 **Warning:** Take note of the rating please, I don't want to offend anyone. *grin* Also, based on certain assumptions in regards to Season 4 spoilers. And well, it's me so, include high sugar/sap content. *grin*  
 **Note:** Time break indicated by ellipses and boldface.

So I was kind of hit by this out of the blue. I don't write a lot of smut, so it's probably pretty cliche, but I hope that it's okay despite that. Also, I meant it to be more angst than it is, but the plot bunny turned fluffly(even if it was still smutty) Oh, and this is what happens when HR listens to too much cheesy 80's soundtrack music.

 

**_Better Late Than Never_ **

 

 **John hesitated in** the balcony doorway, taking the chance to watch Elizabeth as she stood leaning against the balcony railing. The summer breeze played with her hair and the golden light of the coming storm caught at the curling strands.

“The _Daedelus_ is arriving soon,” she said without turning.

The Colonel finally stepped through the doorway. “They should be here at 1400 tomorrow,” he confirmed as he came to stand beside Elizabeth.

For several moments they simply stood together, watching the summer storm bend the prairie grasses as it made them dance like waves before its approach.

“Almost,” Elizabeth murmured.

John made no reply other than to move closer to her; close enough that he could feel the warmth of her gliding like sunlight over his skin.

“I always thought we’d have more time,” he finally confessed. “You’d tell me about how you took ballet as a kid. I’d tell you about the first time I scored a touchdown in football.”

The Colonel took a moment, letting his hand drift closer to Elizabeth’s where they both rested on the railing. “You’d tell me about where you went to college. I’d tell you about flight school and how I fell in love with flying.”

He took the chance to brush his fingertips lightly over her hand. “I’d take every chance I could to touch you… talk to you… be with you.”

John lay his hand gently over hers. “And then you’d finally tell me what possessed you to take a chance on me.

He took a breath as if preparing to plunge into deep water.

“And I’d tell you about the first time I met the love of my life in the coldest place on Earth.”

Elizabeth finally turned to face John and he gave her a boyishly charming smile.

“Then I’d kiss you on the balcony and we’d finally begin the passionate affair we’ve always known that we should be having.”

He gave her a brief, wicked grin before being unable to hide the deep sense of regret and sadness that filled him.

“I always thought we’d have more time.”

Elizabeth took a deep breath. “We have this one night.”

John took a moment, then gave her another lopsided grin. “Oh, no pressure there.”

She laughed almost unexpectedly. “No pressure,” Elizabeth teased. Then she gently brushed a hand through his hair before she began her own litany.

“We’d stand on the balcony and I’d run my hand though your hair like I’ve wanted to do for such a long time.”

Then she reached for his hand and slowly led him back until they were hidden from view in the farthest niche of the balcony wall. “And I’d do this…”

Elizabeth released John’s hand and then slid both of hers beneath his leather jacket to slip it free of his shoulders. “And this…” she said in a low voice, leaning into him to nuzzle softly at his neck while her fingers played underneath his shirt and along the waistband of his pants.

“And I’d admit how much I’ve wanted to…”

Elizabeth kissed him breathless as she loosened the warm metal button of his pants, her fingertips playing along the skin beneath and causing John to gasp. She tugged briefly at the zipper, not enough to move it, but enough to tease.

“And I’d ask…” she murmured with a soft, warm breath when she finally brought her lips to his ear. “What have you been waiting for?”

“Elizabeth…”

“This one night, John. I want to take this one night…” She looked into his eyes. “Give me this one night to take with me.”

Elizabeth did move the zipper of his pants then; not much; just enough.

“What are you waiting for?” she asked again.

John made a sound half way between a growl and a moan, then pushed Elizabeth back against the wall. He rocked against her, trapping her hands between them as he did. His own hands went to her hips, holding her gently, but firmly in place as he moved against her.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” he finally said in low voice that shivered against Elizabeth’s skin as he bent to nuzzle the warm skin just behind her ear. His hands slid up beneath her green shirt to dance along her skin, just below the curving fabric of her bra.

“I’m here…” Elizabeth murmured, freeing her hand enough to tease the zipper of John’s pants down just a little bit more. “Right here…” Her hand slid lower still as she took her turn nuzzling John’s neck.

“Here?” John finally had the presence of mind to ask. “Elizabeth,” he gasped. “You want to… here?”

She pulled back just enough to give him a wicked grin and John was surprised for a moment at his almost overwhelming response to it. He licked his lips, watching her eyes follow the movement. Then slowly, he gave her a wicked grin of his own before walking back to the balcony door to make certain that it was secure

John felt her eyes on him the whole way. He turned, and the sight of Elizabeth in the golden light, waiting for him… He licked his lips again, and made his way back to her.

“Lizabeth,” John caressed her name. “…Beth…”

Still, he didn’t touch her, hesitating on the knife’s edge of desire and all too aware that this was more than a “one night stand,” even if it was only for a night. Then Elizabeth slipped her shirt up and over her head and let it fall to the ground before doing the same with her bra.

“Beth…” she said in a low voice. “I like that…”

“Oh God…” John did touch her then; kissed her and pressed her to the wall, his hands sliding to her hips. “Beth…” he murmured as he trailed hot kisses to her ear, down her throat; lower. He knelt in front of her. “My Beth…” He nuzzled the warm skin of Elizabeth’s stomach.

John looked up with dark eyes as she slid hands into his hair. He kept her own darkened gaze with his as he slid his hands from her hips and all the way down her legs. He deliberately untied her shoes and helped Elizabeth kick them off before sliding his hands back up her legs.

“Always my Beth,” he whispered as he caressed the soft skin of her stomach with his lips and his fingers trailed slowly to the button of her pants. “Ever my Beth…” John helped Elizabeth out of the rest of her clothing.

“Yes,” she sighed, her fingers gliding into his hair as John’s breath whispered over her, stirring dark curls. She gasped when he began to kiss her, using quick flicks of his tongue.

“God, you taste good, Elizabeth,” he pressed the words into her skin and she moaned, tightening her fingers in his hair. She clung to him as he drank her like wine until she was breathless and gasping.

“John… I’m not… I can’t…”

He splayed his hands on her hips to steady her as Elizabeth trembled with the strength of her climax.

“So good…” he murmured, worshipping her.

“John…”

“I want to taste it again…come again for me, Beth,” his words coaxed Elizabeth even as he used his lips to bring her back to the edge and his tongue to push her over it. “So good, Beth…”

“John…”

He started to bring her toward a third orgasm.

“John… I can’t…” Elizabeth protested. “John…”

“Colonel,” she tried almost desperately. “Up,” she urged him.

He stopped abruptly and slid upward along the length of her body. “Standing at attention, ‘Lizabeth,” he answered her with a wicked grin and a low voice.

Elizabeth’s only response was a raised eyebrow to which John laughed. “I love you.”

He kissed her at the edge of her raised eyebrow, causing her to give her own small laugh before she slid her hands under his shirt.

“Off.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” he replied and shrugged out of his black shirt.

He shivered as Elizabeth trailed her hands down his chest, teasing her fingernails over his nipples as she did so.

“Elizabeth…”

She traced the same path with her mouth, lingering at his nipples; John’s breathing turned a little ragged. When her fingers finally returned to his still partially undone pants’ zipper, his breathing gained an extra hitch. And when she slowly teased the zipper down enough that she could slip her hand lower, he moaned.

But when Elizabeth would have knelt before him as he had her, John stopped her.

“I need to be inside of you,” he said in a rough voice. “Oh God, I need to be inside of you now, ‘Lizabeth…”

She nodded and helped him free of the last of his clothing. John pressed himself against her, rocking his hips against hers until she matched his rythmn.

“Now, Beth…” he half-asked, half-demanded.

“Yes…” she answered and John slid into her with a moan as the first raindrops of the summer storm began to fall. He lifted Elizabeth so that she could wrap her legs around his hips and John pressed her into the warm wall behind her back.

“Oh God,” he moaned, and suddenly it all felt like a cliché as John experience the almost overwhelming sensation of the universe falling into place. He laughed lightly and Elizabeth met his eyes with her own ocean green ones.

“Yes,” she replied softly, smiling, and John knew that she understood.

Then he began to move in her and there was only Elizabeth, and himself, and the rain. There was only the feeling of her wrapped around him, bringing him with her as she raced for the edge.

“Oh God, John. I love you,” Elizabeth gasped, almost as if surprised by the realization of the truth of the words.

“Say it again,” he demanded as he thrust into her.

“Make love to me,” she gasped into his shoulder.

“No… ‘Lizabeth, say _it_ again,” John urged her, stilling against her.

She looked into his eyes. “I love you,” she confessed in a moment of naked clarity.

“Again,” John urged, keeping eye contact even as he began to move again.

“I love you, John.”

“My, Beth…” he sighed then. I love you too.”

Elizabeth shuddered, wrapping herself completely around him. Her fingernails bit into the skin of his back and her mouth marked him as hers. She wrote her name into his skin, and John didn’t stop her. Instead, he thrust into her harder, pushing her over the edge and following with his own ragged cry.

“That’s what I was waiting for,” John murmured into her shoulder as the storm washed over them…

 

 

 **John hung back** as the others said their goodbyes to Elizabeth. He watched as Teyla, the last of them, rested her forehead against Elizabeth’s a moment before she stepped back. Then slowly they trailed past John, Teyla giving him a quiet look as she did so.

“I’m okay,” he said quietly and his friend followed the others out of the Gateroom.

He licked his lips walked over to where Elizabeth stood, waiting.

“So…”

“So…” she replied.

“You have to let me know who won the Superbowl when you get back to Earth.”

Elizabeth grinned. “Of course.”

John grinned back and then quickly sobered. He pressed something into Elizabeth’s hand.

It was a delicate silver necklace hung with an elegant silver leaf pendant. Elizabeth felt the etching on the underside of the leaf and she flipped it over to read the inscription. _“In this, or any world… I love you my Beth… John,”_ Elizabeth read in a soft voice. “When did you…?”

“I told you, I always thought we’d have more time,” John said quietly. Then he looked around quickly before pulling something out of his jacket pocket.

“And here, take this.”

“John… I can’t…” Elizabeth started to protest when he handed her what looked like a small Ancient device.

“It’s okay,” he assured her quickly. “It’s not really something from the Ancients, it’s a copy. Rodney made it. It’s keyed just to us.”

Hiding the object with his hand, John showed her a small Ancient symbol. “You just touch this here. I have one too. It lets us…” he got a thoughtful look on his face, trying to think of how best to explain the device. “It lets us use a piece of the Ascension technology that Rodney found.”

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

“Not like what McKay did,” he assured her. “This just lets us kind of dream together. You touch that glyph, go to sleep… and voila.”

“Voila?” Elizabeth said with a small smile.

“Just until you come back.”

“John, I’m not… I mean… I’m not sure when I’ll come back. I’m not even sure I’ll ever be able to come back; if they’ll ever let me come back.”

“Well, until we’re together again then.”

“John…”

“You asked me what I was waiting for,” he said. “It’s you.”

He kissed then before she could protest. “We’ll be together again,” he insisted firmly. “Here, Earth, or some other world. We’ll be together.”

“You seem very sure, Colonel.”

“I am,” he replied. “I love you, Beth,” he murmured. “And I know you love me.”

Almost defiantly, knowing that others were still watching, he kissed her a last time before stepping back. “See you soon,” he said.

Elizabeth smiled and mouthed the words, “I love you too.”

John watched as the _Daedelus’_ beam took Elizabeth on board a few seconds before the beam flickered and deposited General Samantha Carter in the Atlantis Gateroom.

“Morning, General. Let me show you to _Dr. Weir’s…_ I mean, your office…”


	2. Dream a Little Dream

**Elizabeth sat against** her headboard and tucked her knees up tightly to her chest. She held the small Ancient looking object in her hands and rested them on top of her knees so that she could contemplate the device.

She had long since deciphered the blue jewel toned glyphs; _John, Elizabeth, dream, transcendence, spirit, mind, body, join,_ and one that essentially meant, _begin_. Elizabeth lightly traced the _begin_ glyph, wondering if John had already used his device. She wondered if he had been using it, and when he didn’t find her, thought it was because the device didn’t work. Or she wondered, had he thought that Elizabeth herself had simply chosen to not continue whatever it was that they had possibly started back on Atlantis.

“Does he think it was a one night stand for me?” she asked aloud, causing Sedge’s ears to perk up.

She had thought that her final night on Atlantis was the last time she would ever see John. She had been almost certain that she would never be allowed to return. And it still seemed to be the most likely possibility. She was back on Earth. She would remain back on Earth. John was on Atlantis; simple as that.

“ _Was_ it a one night stand?” she asked the hot, still night surrounding her.

Then Elizabeth felt the warm leaf pendant of her necklace rub against her skin lightly as she shifted on the bed. She had worn it everyday since John had given it to her.

Elizabeth smiled. “I guess not,” she murmured, fingering the necklace and feeling the simple engraving on the back, knowing every letter by heart.

She turned her attention back to the device.

“So why haven’t I used this, Sedge?”

The golden lab tilted her head, listening to Elizabeth’s voice.

“Because Dr. Elizabeth Weir, international diplomat and former leader of Atlantis,” she continued. “Is scared senseless of being, _Beth_ ,” Elizabeth answered herself.

She looked over to where Sedge sat attentively listening. The dog thumped her tail on the hardwood floor as she saw Elizabeth’s attention seemingly shift to her.

“I can be Dr. Weir. I can be Elizabeth. I can even be ‘Lizabeth. But I don’t know if I can be _Beth_ ,” she admitted. “Beth might lose herself in John. Beth might be in madly love with the man. Beth could be immeasurably hurt by him. And Beth misses him more than words can say,” Elizabeth said in a rush, still addressing Sedge.

“I’m scared,” she murmured, contemplating the device once more before rubbing her necklace in her fingertips like a touchstone. “But it _wasn’t_ just a one night stand,” she said softly.

Elizabeth took a deep breath, pressed the _begin_ glyph and set the device on the nightstand. She lay back and felt the bed shift as Sedge hopped up and settled herself on the end.

“Here goes everything, Sedge-Girl.”

She closed her eyes…

 

 **Elizabeth felt the** sunlight first, warm on the tops of her arms and legs, and glowing red behind her eyelids. The grass was cool and damp beneath her and she felt the moisture start to chill her a little through her thin pink tee-shirt and flannel pajama pants.

“At first, I wondered when you were going to show up,” she heard an intimately familiar voice say from above her. “Then I started to wonder _if_ you were going to show up. About three weeks ago, McKay told me that I should just give it up.”

John paused. “It’s been five months, Elizabeth.”

She cringed inwardly at hearing her given name. “I know," she replied quietly, keeping her eyes closed.

Elizabeth was still, listening to John’s breath above her like a soft breeze.

“Well, McKay’ll be glad to know that his device works at least.”

Suddenly there was silence, and Elizabeth opened her eyes quickly, blinking in the bright summer sunlight. “John?”

She sat up, terrified that he had simply left and unsure of the way that things worked in the strange dreaming that the device had created.

“John?”

Elizabeth looked around almost frantically until she saw him already some distance behind her.

“John!”

She was up and running in his direction. “Wait! Please!”

He stopped. He waited.

“I…” she almost stammered as she reached him. “I..” she said hesitantly, uncharacteristically at a loss for words.

John turned.

“I missed you.”

He gave her an incredulous look.

“I’ve missed you so much… too much…”

“You missed me, so you didn’t use the one way that we can see each other?” he asked in disbelief.

“I’ve never been Beth,” she said abruptly, knowing that she wasn’t making any sense to him, but not knowing how else to explain. “I’ve been Elizabeth, and Liz, even Lizzie once. But I’ve never been Beth.”

She tried to meet his eyes, so dark and shuttered to her after five months.

“You’re the only one that’s ever seen me as Beth.”

“Elizabeth, you’re not making any sense.”

“I know; I know,” she said holding up her hands. She took a deep breath.

“I’m not coming back to Atlantis.”

“Elizabeth…”

She held up a hand to interrupt him. “…I’m not coming back to Atlantis, John. Still, what happened, that last night, it wasn’t just a one night stand.” Elizabeth worried her bottom lip. “It wasn’t a one night stand. But…”

“But?” he prompted.

She took a deep breath. “It was more than I expected.”

He waited for her to continue.

“I didn’t know I was a _Beth_ …” She sucked on her bottom lip a moment, intensely aware that John was watching her every movement. “And Beth is someone that couldn’t do what Elizabeth did; leave you as easily as she left Simon. Beth can’t hide anything from you. Beth can’t keep anything back from you.”

Elizabeth took a deep breath as if preparing to dive into deep water. “If I’m Beth, I have to be _with_ you. And I’ve never done that John… never…” she confessed. “It’s like when the Asurans put me in that nightmare and only you could get me out. You were the only one that could save me, and I was lost without you.”

John took a single step forward.

“It scares me how much I need you. It scares me how much I love you. So I… I stayed away… I’m sorry,” she said in a soft whisper, ducking her head.

“Lizabeth…”

John stepped the rest of the way to her and reached for her chin. He tilted her head up so that he could look in her eyes.

“Lizabeth… I can’t promise that I won’t hurt you. I can’t tell you when it’ll end. I can’t even tell you where this is going. But I can promise you that I will cherish you… Elizabeth... ‘Lizabeth… _Beth_ … I will cherish you. I will love you, not matter what. You’re what’s been missing in my life and I never fully realized it until that night…And I know now that we just _fit_ together,” he said with a small grin.

“Yes…” she agreed.

“Be scared, Elizabeth. Hell, be terrified, I know I am. But be here; be with me.”

She let herself look into his eyes, so nakedly honest and almost surprisingly open; more open than she had ever seen them.

“So what, we’ll be scared together?”

“We’ll be in love together,” he corrected her.

“In love,” she murmured.

“In love… Beth… _my Beth_. I’ve waited. I don’t want to wait anymore. I don’t want to lose any more time to things unsaid. I just want you… Let yourself want me too, please…”

She met his eyes, and bit her bottom lip a moment before asking, “I’ll meet you tomorrow night then?”

“Yes,” he answered. He gave her a huge grin. “Yes.”

“Can I get a kiss goodnight?” she asked with a small smile of her own.

He gave her a kiss that lingered on her lips even as Elizabeth woke in her own bed.

“Goodnight, John,” she whispered. “See you soon…”


	3. Office Space

**John took a moment** to admire the beauty of seeing Elizabeth framed by the doorway of Atlantis’ tower office. Her hair was longer than he remembered it being and it curled down in dark waves to the middle of her bare back. The light green summer dress that she wore curved tightly over her hips and fell gracefully down to a spot just above her knee. Elegant Roman sandals laced their way up her leg to mid-calf, emphasizing the lovely length of her limb and making her seem even more feminine.

“Are you going to just stand there watching me?” she asked dryly, her back still to him.

“There’s the woman I know and love,” John teased. He made his way over to her and stood close enough to feel her warmth, but not touching. “I don’t think that I’ve ever really seen you in a dress before.”

Elizabeth made a small sound of agreement.

John slipped a gentle hand through her curls, letting them tangle briefly around his fingers.

“And your hair’s longer…” He brought his lips to her ear. “I like it…” he breathed, causing her to shiver slightly.

He used the fingertips of both hands then to trace the open curved edge of her dress. “This is nice too,” he murmured as his hands came to linger at the small of her back.

“You like it?” Elizabeth asked in a soft voice.

“Oh, most definitely,” John assured her, brushing her hair aside so that he could trace his fingertip up and then down the subtle contour of her spine before slipping both hands around her waist. He splayed them flat against her stomach and pulled gently to bring her tight against him.

“Most definitely,” he repeated, nuzzling her neck as she titled her head to the left.

His hands drifted slowly upward and Elizabeth shivered again.

“And green is _your_ color…” John murmured into the curved of her shoulder.

His hands reached the lowest point of the V neckline of Elizabeth’s dress. They lingered there only a moment before he used his fingertips to trace the open edge of the fabric, careful to keep his touch feather light.

“And this…” John said quietly when his hands reached the knot at the back of Elizabeth’s neck. He started to slowly loosen it. “Is intriguing…”

“Intriguing?” Elizabeth asked somewhat breathlessly.

“Mmmm…” he replied. “Makes me want to see what happens when…” he finished opening the knot and let the loose ends drift down.

“Ohh…” Elizabeth sighed.

John slipped his hands back around to her waist so that he could slowly pull the loosened fabric of her dress down.

“Oh, I _definitely_ like this dress,” John said with a smile in his voice.

His hands drifted upward once more until he reached the soft skin beneath Elizabeth’s breasts. He hesitated a moment, teasing her before beginning a slow caressing circle around each breast.

“John…” Elizabeth protested when his fingertips traced around her dusky areolas but left her nipples untouched.

Still he teased her, sending his fingertips back into an outward spiral before beginning another slow caress inward.

“John…” she almost pleaded when again he only circled her nipples. “John if you don’t…”

“What?” he interrupted her. “If I don’t do what…this?” he drawled, his voice still smiling when he finally brushed his fingertips over her nipples.

Elizabeth sighed and arched into his touch, her back bowing and her hips pressing against him in the movement. John’s automatic response was to rock his own hips against her.

“Lizabeth…”

She gasped, moving her hips against him as he continued to caress her until, with an almost growl, John grabbed them.

“Lizabeth…”

He gathered the fabric her dress up so that he could slip an impatient hand beneath the soft folds.

“I need to feel you…” he said in something that was almost a plea; almost a demand.

“Yes…”

John pushed her underwear aside and slid a finger slowly into her. Trapped between his hand and his hips, Elizabeth shuddered, moaning.

“John…”

“I have you…” he murmured, moving his hand slowly and gently as his hips rocked against hers. Deft fingers found just the right spot and rhythm, and he listened to every wordless whisper of her body attentively. With tender inexorability, he pushed her to the edge and held her tightly when he felt her tumble over it with a joyous cry.

“I will never get tired of seeing that,” he murmured into her ear as she shivered softly in the aftermath of her orgasm.

Elizabeth gave an almost unexpectedly giddy laugh.

“Or hearing that,” John added.

“I had almost forgotten,” she whispered.

“Let me remind you of a few other things then,” John said in a husky voice.

“Desk…” he murmured into her ear with a low rumble before giving a small laugh, because even without seeing it, he knew that she had a single eyebrow raised in response.

He kissed her temple lightly and repeated, “Desk…”

Carefully he walked them toward the office desk, nuzzling her neck as he did so.

“You’ve thought about this,” Elizabeth said softly.

“Maybe…” John admitted as he kicked off his boots and shucked out of his pants and boxers. “A little…” he shrugged out of his black shirt.

“Maybe?” she asked, starting to turn to face him.

John stopped her gently, keeping her back to him as he slid his hands back around her hips. “I might have had a thought or two. Maybe a dream…” he confessed.

“Mmm…”

He pressed himself to her, satisfied when she sighed as he did so. “But none like this.”

John’s hands traveled upward as he nuzzled Elizabeth’s neck, trailing kisses to her shoulder.

“This is perfect,” he breathed into her warm skin.

He brushed his fingertips over her nipples, smiling when she gasped in pleasure.

“This is real…”

John slipped his hands back down her sides and then under her dress, helping Elizabeth to step out of her underwear. He urged her forward gently until she was bracing herself on the desk with her hands.

“This is you…”

He trailed his hand down the curve of her back, admiring.

“And me…” His hand traveled in a caress up the contour of her spine.

“Together…” he breathed as he brought both of his hands to Elizabeth’s hips, gathering up the fabric of her dress.

“I’ve been waiting for you for what seems like forever.”

“I… I’m…”

“I know,” he reassured her. “I’m just glad you’re here now.”

“I am…” she sighed.

Slowly, John slid into her, his low moan tangling with Elizabeth’s. His hands tightened on her hips as he thrust into her, savoring the feeling of having her with him completely. He buried his face in her hair and thrust harder.

“Oh God…” she rewarded him with her pleasured cry.

John chased her to the edge, but didn’t follow as she cried out. Instead, he held her tight to him as she shook with release and stepped back only when her trembling slowly became soft shivers.

Elizabeth finally turned to face John.

“And hello to you too,” she said with a small smile.

He grinned and watched her step out of her dress and sandals. She titled her head to the side, considering his naked form with a brief look of honest admiration.

“Couch…” she said with the playfully wicked smile that he had dreamed of seeing again for months.

“You’ve thought of this,” he teased while she lead him to the couch.

Elizabeth directed him to sit down. “Maybe a little…” she admitted with a grin. She settled herself lightly on his lap. “When you’d been particularly charming that day…”

She tangled her hands in his wild hair and proceeded to kiss him breathless.

“Or attractive…” she finally admitted when she had had a chance to catch her own breath.

He gave her a self-satisfied smirk. “Attractive?” he teased. “Elizabeth, you think I’m hot,” he said with a wide grin.

Elizabeth blushed but didn’t deny the statement. John gave a very masculine chuckle and she blushed even deeper before suddenly getting a wicked gleam in her eye. Ever so slowly, she began to rock.

John’s laughter stopped abruptly and instead his head went back with a low moan. She trailed her hands down his chest and he shivered before giving another low moan when her fingertips brushed over his nipples.

“Lizabeth…”

She brought her mouth to his nipple, dancing her tongue over his skin.

“Oh God… ‘Lizabeth…”

She trailed hot kisses up to his shoulder as she continued to rock her hips, bringing the tip of him just inside of her before moving herself back.

“I’ve thought about doing this here…” she murmured. “I used to wonder what it would be like to have you inside of me.”

John licked his lips and held back another moan so he could take in every word.

“When I first realized that there was a possibility that I could fall in love with you, sometimes after you came back from a dangerous mission, I used to imagine reassuring myself that you were alive by making love to you on this couch.”

She shifted, bringing him just a little bit deeper as she rocked.

“Then… I used to imagine what it might be like if you came to me here, late at night. I’d think about what I wanted, but knew I couldn’t have.”

Elizabeth trailed her hands down his chest and back up to his shoulders, bracing herself.

“When they told me General Carter was coming to take my place, I wished that I had said something; done something. I wished that I had kissed you on the balcony, just once…”

She gripped John’s shoulders tightly.

“I wished that I had told you about how I danced as Aurora in _The Sleeping Beauty_. Or how I went to Yale because my father wanted me to go to Harvard.”

Elizabeth gave a long sigh of pleasure as she finally slid down the length of John’s erection. He spread his hands on her hips, holding onto her as he thrust upward.

“Oh God, Elizabeth…”

She tilted her head, and her hair fell down around him.

“ _Beth…_ ” she murmured. “I’m _your Beth…_ ”

“Yes…” he agreed.

“Yes…” she whispered, shifting to take him even deeper. Then there were no more words, just the sweet pull of his gravity to hers and hers back to him until Elizabeth came with a bright, joyous cry that John added his own ragged breath to.

Eventually, Elizabeth rested her forehead on John’s.

“Did I tell you how much I like that dress,” he said then with a shameless grin.

“I’m glad,” she replied with a smile of her own…

 

 **John tried to** not look back over to the couch as he sat in front of General Carter at her desk. Of course, that just brought his attention back to the desk itself.

“Colonel?” Samantha asked, clearly not amused with her military commander’s inattention to what she was trying to say.

John sat up straighter and met his CO’s gaze. “Yes, Ma’am?”

“Is it just my imagination, or have you failed to hear a word I’ve said?” Sam asked, not trying to hide the irritation in her voice.

“Yes, General; I mean, no General… I mean, I have been listening General.”

“Sometimes Colonel, I have to question some of Dr. Weir’s choices.”

John knew that she was clearly referring to his own inclusion in the Atlantis project. “Yes, Ma’am,” he responded, though of course the mention of Elizabeth briefly brought his glance back to the couch.

Samantha tracked his gaze. “Is there something particularly interesting about the couch, Colonel?” she asked dryly.

John gave the General a startled look and thought that it was entirely possible that she could see the faint flush to his skin. He was certain when she gave him a piercing look.

“No Ma’am,” he replied finally.

“Dismissed, Colonel.”

John rose to attention.

“And Colonel Sheppard, I want that report on my desk by 0800.”

He glanced at the desk, the memory of a green dress vivid in his mind. He tried to not notice the General’s impatient and questioning look. “Yes, Ma’am” he replied, only smiling when he had finally turned his back and walked out of the office...


	4. An Ocean Full of Stars

 

Elizabeth trailed her fingers through the sea of stars surrounding her, and like water, it rippled. She watched, fascinated as the starstuff danced back and away, swirling around her fingertips.

“Now this is just weird,” John said as he appeared in the dreaming with her. He reached his own hand out to stir the nebulas surrounding him. “It’s warm,” he added. He looked down to the star filled space beneath him. “And it’s a good thing I don’t suffer from vertigo.”

“I wonder how the device chooses what to show us. It must be from our own minds; our subconscious,” Elizabeth said before turning around to face John. “This,” she said as she made a small gesture with her hand to indicate the starscape, “must be from you.”

“To be honest, Elizabeth, I’m not sure that I care.” He gave her a bright smile. “All I care about is that it lets me be with you.”

John took the last few steps toward her.

“But I have to admit, this gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, _‘long distant relationship_ ,” he said softly before kissing her.

“Is that what this is?” Elizabeth asked almost hesitantly.

“Well, what else would you call it?” John replied.

She gave him a slow, sweet smile before kissing him again. Then wistfully, she looked out into the stars. “Where are you?”

“Here,” John replied almost fiercely. “I’m right her with you,” he repeated, grabbing her hand.

Elizabeth looked down to their joined hands, nearly overwhelmed with the sudden wash of emotion the simple sight caused in her. She took a deep breath in an effort to steady herself and calm her suddenly racing heart.

“How are the others,” she asked eventually.

“Oh, fine… you know them,” John tried to reply nonchalantly.

“It’s okay, John. You can tell me,” Elizabeth reassured him.

He looked at her. “Well… McKay… he’s… McKay,” he said slowly.

Elizabeth gave John a look to prompt him to continue. He took a deep breath and licked his lips a moment.

“He’s actually thrilled that the device works, and pissed that I won’t tell him more. And since he can’t use it because it’s keyed to us, it makes him even more cranky. Especially since he doesn’t have the materials or the way to make more,” John explained. “Because… because Sam’s a lot more strict about…” he added before his words trailed off.

“It’s okay, John,” Elizabeth reassured him once more. “General Carter’s a lot more strict about…” she prompted.

“The General just has a different focus than you did, and well, Rodney and she clash sometimes about the direction that the research should be directed… or how it should be done actually.”

Elizabeth nodded and after a brief downward glance, sat down. John came with her since he refused to release her hand.

“I think a lot of it’s only because…” John said, not completing the sentence. “Okay… now this is just really weird,” he murmured instead.

John slid his hand through the gathered starstuff, watching it swirl away like ripples in a pond. Suddenly, his mischievous expression made his green eyes shimmer as if with summer sunlight. “I wonder what it would be like…”

He tried to get Elizabeth to lay back.

“Oh no, Flyboy… you think Rodney and General Carter are clashing _because…_ ”

John sobered. “I think a lot of it’s because he misses… I mean, he has a thing for Carter, but Rodney has always thought that you were… he misses you,” he said finally.

“It’s going to take awhile.”

“It’s been nine and a half months, Elizabeth. Sam’s not you, but she’s a good CO. Rodney’s got to accept that she’s a military scientist…” John stopped abruptly.

“John, it’s all right. I don’t expect you to stage a coup or something.”

She gave him a wry grin. “Just so long as you give her as hard a time as you gave me.”

“Hard time?” he asked, all innocence. “I never gave you a hard time. I mean sure, when you were wrong…”

Elizabeth gave him an incredulous look.

John tried his best ‘puppy-dog’ expression in response, to which Elizabeth tried to steel herself. It was harder than she thought and she was certain that it had never been quite so difficult before.

“Okay…” he laughed finally. “Maybe sometimes… but you’re so stubborn.”

“I’m stubborn? _I’m_ stubborn? If I’m stubborn then what do you think you…”

John interrupted her with a kiss.

“Just because you kiss…” he stopped her again with another kiss.

“Truce?” he offered with a lopsided grin when the kiss had ended.

“Truce…” she agreed slowly with a small smile in her own voice and a tiny quirk of her lip.

“So… Rodney’s… Rodney. And everyone else?”

“Well, Lorne’s practically in love with Doctor Keller.”

“Oh, and how do you know this?” Elizabeth asked curiously.

“Honestly? Teyla’s mentioned it,” John answered, suddenly looking very uncomfortable.

Elizabeth gave him a long, considering look. “And how is Teyla?”

“She’s okay… considering. Ronon’s been very focused on helping her. In fact, there’s been some speculation that he’s the father. Of course, I’ve heard my name mentioned too. So…”

“Father?” Elizabeth interrupted him, unable to hide her complete surprise.

“A baby,” Elizabeth said softly. “I wish I could… Teyla’s going to make an excellent mother.”

“She will if she stays safe on Atlantis and doesn’t keep trying to go off on her own to find her people,” John muttered somewhat darkly. “It was one thing before we knew, but now…”

“Why would she need to _go off on her own to find her people_?”

“The Athosians are missing. After we helped them relocate, they just went missing,” John said almost helplessly. “And then when that _seer_ told Teyla that her people were being kept in darkness…”

“John…”

“I just don’t know what to do Beth. You’d know what to do... but I...”

“Just be there for her John; do what you can,” she said gently.

“It’s not enough…” he said, his voice turning desolate.

Tenderly, Elizabeth took him in her arms.

“I miss you so much, my Beth,” he breathed into her dark hair. “I miss you.”

Elizabeth stroked her fingers through his hair, comforting. “I’m here. I’m right here.”

“Sometimes… sometimes this isn’t enough,” he murmured. He pulled back so he could look into her eyes. “I want to _really_ touch you,” he said, cradling her cheek with his hand. “I want to wake up with you.”

He took a deep breath and licked his lips. “Sometimes, when I hear the rumors about Teyla’s pregnancy, I catch myself wishing it was you… you and I…”

“John…” Elizabeth felt her heart race in a wild moment of panic mixed with a kind of terrified joy.

“Sometimes this isn’t enough, Beth. I want you too much for this to be enough.”

“It’s more than some people ever have,” she breathed.

“I know… I know…” John replied, his voice aching.

“Maybe… maybe we should stop this. Let each other move on,” she said suddenly.

“What?” John asked in surprise.

Elizabeth rose. She swept her hand around, indicating them both and the strange stars surrounding them. “This can’t be healthy, can it?”

“Lizabeth, that’s not what I meant,” he protested, rising to stand with her.

“I know,” she assured him. “But maybe…”

“What is this really about?” John interrupted her.

For a moment, Elizabeth considered lying. For moment, she considered telling him that stopping whatever they were doing, would be best; that it was just what she wanted. She thought about how she had walked away from Simon…

 _“But that was Elizabeth… not Beth,”_ she whispered under her breath.

“I’m going to Afghanistan,” she said almost bluntly.

“What?” The question burst from him in rush of sudden, terrified anger.

“I’m going to Afghanistan.”

“That’s not what I meant. I meant what the _hell_ do mean you’re going to Afghanistan. You have no business going to Afghanistan.”

“I’m a diplomat, John; a negotiator,” she reminded him. “And I’ve mediated in the Middle East before. I’ve even survived the Pegasus galaxy.”

“You have no business going to Afghanistan, not without…”

“John,” she tried to interrupt him.

“No,” he continued vehemently. “Not with me a galaxy away; not without me there; not without me there to…”

“To what? Protect me? I can take care of myself, John. Besides, it’s not like they’re asking me to walk in there by myself.”

“No,” he practically shouted. “No way in hell, Elizabeth,” he vowed fiercely. “No way in hell!”

“John, I have to do this.”

“Why?”

“Why what?” she asked carefully.

“Why you?” he demanded, beginning to pace, too upset to contain himself any other way.

Without any false pride she answered him, “Because I’m one of the best, John. Because they need me there. And because I can save lives; do some good.”

“Afghanistan,” he said in a low voice. “Oh God, Beth, if anything were to…”

“John…”

“If anything were to happen to you, Beth,” he repeated, turning to her.

“I can’t promise…” she took a deep breath. “John, there isn’t any way that I can promise nothing’s going to happen,” she replied honestly.

“Not exactly the answer I was looking for there, ‘Lizabeth.”

“I know,” she said softly. “I know. But…”

“I don’t want you to go,” John said, naked honesty darkening his eyes. “Please, I don’t want you to go.”

“I have to,” she answered him, her voice soft, but a familiar strength filling her eyes.

“Stubborn…” John said, his voice low.

“But right…”

“I love you… you’re my Beth.”

“We shouldn’t stop this then?” Elizabeth asked, uncertain, both about what she wanted, and about what she wanted him to answer.

John licked his lips. “I don’t want to lose you… now that I’ve found you,” he replied, a world of meaning in his words.

“It’s more than some people ever have,” she echoed softly.

“Much more,” he agreed.

For a moment, they sat in silence, letting the warmth of the stars and each other fill them. Then Elizabeth gave John a teasing smile. “So Flyboy… I was wondering, what do you think it would be like to make love in an ocean full of stars?”

He gave her a familiar lopsided smile as she gently urged him to lay back…


	5. This is Your Life

_“We received the information at 1900 with the weekly report from Earth…”_

John walked almost blindly down the corridor that lead to his quarters. The paper that General Carter had handed him was crumpled into a tight ball in his fist. Still, he continued to clench his hand so hard around the report that his knuckles were white with the strain.

_“It was a bomb…”_

John practically stumbled through his door. He made it to his bed somehow and sat down heavily, feeling the mattress sink beneath him with his sudden weight.

_“Five weeks ago…and we’re just finding out today?”_

_“Yes… it was difficult to get information out of the area and what she was doing was highly classified…”_

“Five weeks,” he murmured into the still air. “That’s why…”

John caught the glimmer of the small Ancient device at the edge of his vision. He turned in a sudden rage to the night table and reached for it, flinging the device to the wall. It shattered with a bright shower of pieces scattering themselves over the floor.

_“I’m sorry, John. I know that she was your… friend…”_

“Oh God… Beth…” he nearly sobbed, laying back in his bed and flinging an arm over his eyes, as if he could somehow block out the world of pain that he had suddenly found himself in.

“John…” the voice called to him. “John… wake up,” it persisted, trying to call him up and out of the darkness. “John, please… I need you…”

It was the last, Elizabeth’s voice calling to him, that brought him up from his grief induced insensibility.

“Not asleep,” he mumbled as he blinked in the dim light of his quarters. In comparison, the glow at the end of his bed might have almost been a sun for its relative brightness. And as John watched, the small blue glow faded to white. In a matter of moments it became a familiar shape.

“Beth…” he whispered.

Elizabeth was sitting at the edge of his bed, a faint luminousness still filling her ocean green eyes a moment, before their appearance became what it had always been.

“This is the part where I say this must be a dream,” John said dully even though he could feel the delicate weight of her at the edge of the mattress.

“But we both know that dreams can be real,” Elizabeth responded.

“You’re dead,” John replied in a flat voice.

“They think I am,” Elizabeth agreed, causing John to look at her closely. Suddenly, he gave a rueful, pained laugh.

“Oh God, McKay’s right… what is it with me and Ascended women anyway…”

His laugh became almost hysterical until Elizabeth abruptly stopped it with a kiss. For a moment, John didn’t respond, but as the kiss became more passionate, it became undeniable. Almost helplessly, John’s entire world became Elizabeth’s lips; her tongue; the taste of her; the feel of her in his arms as she shifted to wrap herself around him.

“I’m here,” Elizabeth whispered before she helped John out of his black t-shirt, her hands caressing, assuring him of the truth of her words.

His own hands slid to the knot of fabric at the back of her neck.

“I thought that they had rules against this sort of thing,” John murmured into her dark hair. “Interfering with us mere mortals…”

“I don’t care.”

John pulled back enough to look into her eyes and was surprised to see that she meant it.

“I don’t care,” she insisted, undoing the knot of fabric herself and slipping her green summer dress down.

“I still love that dress,” John murmured, taking a moment to admire the sight of her half-naked and straddling his lap. “But Elizabeth… this is… God this is very weird.”

Unexpectedly, she laughed. “We’ve made love in a field of stars, but this is too weird for you?”

He gave her a wry smile in response. “That was a dream. I very real dream, but…”

“I’m here, John; really here; all of me.”

“But you’re…”

 _“Your Beth,”_ she interrupted him. “Right now, that’s all that matters.”

She kissed him until they were both breathless.

“We have this night,” Elizabeth said, echoing their first goodbye.

“One night…” he said, his voice as close to breaking as it had ever been.

“It’s more than some people ever get,” Elizabeth insisted.

“You…” John whispered.

“You’ll always have me.”

“But one night,” he countered. “I have you just this one night,” he said softly, hiding his face in her hair. Elizabeth felt John’s hot tears fall on the curve of her neck and she urged him to look at her. She cradled his face in her hands and made him look into her eyes.

“You’ll always have me, John. I’m always going to be _your Beth_.” She kissed him fiercely, willing him to believe her.

“Always,” she declared before kissing him again, trying to draw him into unquestioning passion.

With a half-groan, half-growl, John pulled Elizabeth flush against him before letting his hands start a long, slow slide down the contour of her spine. They rested hot against the small of her back as he brought his mouth to the curve of her neck where his tears still glistened. He licked the moisture away before nuzzling gently

“Always,” she repeated adamantly as his caress became more demanding, leaving a mark; his name on her skin.

“My Beth,” John finally agreed before kissing her with an almost desperate need that she returned. “ _My only Beth…_ ”

His hands slid to her hips as she started to rock against him slowly and deliberately, teasing herself and him with the movement. Elizabeth’s own hands danced along John’s skin.

“Lizabeth…”

Gently, she urged him to lay back beneath her before using her mouth to retrace the path of her hands.

“Oh God, Beth… do you know how good that feels?” John groaned as Elizabeth circled the tip of her tongue around his nipple.

She gave him a playful smile touched with hints of something far more primal and mysterious.

“No…” she purred unexpectedly. “Tell me…” she replied, sliding back down his body trailing kisses like rose petals in her wake. “Everything…” she murmured against his skin as she helped him free of the rest of his clothes before removing her own dress.

“That you feel…” she whispered, blowing a warm breath over the tip of his erection and causing him to twitch.

 _“Beth…_ ” John half-moaned, half-gasped.

“Hot?” she breathed, her lips brushing against his skin in a tantalizing caress before she took him into her mouth with a languid passion.

“Yes…”

“Aching?” she whispered, circling her tongue around the tip of him.

“Oh God… yes…”

“Needing to be touched…” she said, brushing his inner thoughts even as she took him back into her mouth.

 _“My God, Beth…”_ John drawled in overwhelming ecstasy. He moaned deeply as she caressed him, bringing him to the desperate edge before he reached for her, urging her upwards.

John met her eyes. “I love you, Elizabeth.”

“I know,” she replied softly.

“Always,” he vowed.

“John…”

“Always,” he repeated and in one fluid motion he had her beneath him and was sliding into her, trying to move as languidly as she had done. But he quickly discovered that it was too much; he was awash in a sea of emotion. He shuddered and shook with it.

“Lizabeth… I can’t…” he gasped in a shaky voice.

She wrapped legs tight around him. “Be with me, John… just be with me,” she urged him, and it was enough. Together they found a rhythm; an ebb and tide of gravities.

“Be with me,” Elizabeth gasped as they came closer to the shimmering center of something waiting between them. “Be with me…” she gasped again before coming with a bright, joyous cry that John added his own ragged breath to a moment later.

Slowly then, John lowered himself on trembling arms until he lay next to Elizabeth on the small bed. They shifted until they found a comfortable place entwined together.

“This is really goodbye,” John finally murmured in a low voice, unconsciously gripping Elizabeth tighter as he did so.

She took a shuddering breath. Then almost too quietly for John to hear, she whispered, “Before… did you mean…” She took another deep breath, as if plunging into unknown waters. “Did you mean what you said before about you, and I, and a baby… a life together?”

She shifted until she was lying half atop him and looking into his eyes.

“Yes,” John replied, answering her question unexpectedly without a moment’s hesitation.

“Do you trust me?” she asked suddenly, seemingly apropos of nothing.

Slowly, John nodded. “With my life.”

“Surrender to me…” she murmured.

“Yes…” he replied in a low voice.

Elizabeth smiled softly then kissed him almost chastely. For a moment, there was just the softness of her lips and John lost himself in it until he felt a floating, dizzying sensation. As she deepened the kiss, the sensation intensified, changed until it was almost overwhelming and there was the quietly impossible sense of time blurring and slowing, all at once.

Together they lived a lifetime in a moment; children, a home, growing old together, a wealth of memories…

“A daughter…” John gasped as he emerged from the moment. He met Elizabeth’s eyes. “You gave us a daughter… and a… what was that?”

“Our life… a gift… memories of us… as… as it should have been,” Elizabeth replied. “A goodbye…” she added sadly.

She rose, reluctantly stepping away.

“Beth… wait…” John said, sitting up and almost reaching for her.

She paused, then turned slowly back to him.

“Why?” John asked, leaving the question open to whatever answer she was going to give him.

Elizabeth walked slowly back to him. She smiled softly and cradled his head in her hands, burying her fingers in his wild hair. “Because you called me, Beth,” she said tenderly.

She kissed him before stepping back once more.

“I’ll wait for you,” John said suddenly.

“What?”

“I’ll wait for you, Beth. Promise me that you’ll come back, and I’ll wait.”

“John no… you have to…”

“Always, ‘Lizabeth,” he interrupted her.

She met the naked honesty and love in his darkened eyes. “I’ll come back,” she promised.

He rose to meet her. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

John gave her one last kiss before her form faded in a gentle blue halo of light…


	6. Waiting My Whole Life for This

 

Elizabeth ran a finger over the simple picture frame before carefully picking up the photo.

“That’s Teyla’s boy,” an age worn voice said from behind her.

“He looks like her,” Elizabeth replied without turning. She set the photograph back down on the shelf.

“Yeah,” the old man agreed. “She never did tell us who the father was,” he added. “But my money’s on Lorne.”

“Major Lorne?” Elizabeth asked with some surprise. “I thought that there was something between Dr. Keller and the Major?”

“That was according to Teyla,” the elderly man reminded her, a familiar tone of amusement coloring his voice. “It’s the eyes…” he prompted.

Elizabeth picked the photo back up and examined it. “The eyes…” she agreed before setting the picture back in its place.

“I don’t see any pictures of your family,” Elizabeth said gently.

“That’s because you’re not looking the right way,” the old man replied.

Elizabeth scanned the photographs and objects covering the shelves and fireplace mantel. She saw several pictures of people that she remembered from Atlantis; Rodney with his arm around Carson, a huge grin on both of the men’s faces and a fish in their free hands. There was one of Ronon looking a taciturn as ever, but with a small spark of amusement in his eyes. Teyla had posed for a picture with her newborn cradled in her arms. Dr. Keller and Teyla were laughing in yet another small photo set amongst the others.

Elizabeth turned her attention to another small shelf and she found more photos, this time of people that she was unfamiliar with. There was one of two men dressed in desert fatigues, dog tags loose about their necks. Another was of an older man that was clearly proud of the tall, dark haired man standing beside him in an Air Force uniform.

“There are no pictures of your wife… children…” Elizabeth said quietly.

“Look closer…” the old man prompted.

Elizabeth looked on the mantel and saw a photo of herself in a delicate frame. There was another small one of John and herself clearly caught unawares as they laughed over lunch in the Atlantis mess.

“It wouldn’t have been fair…” the voice rumbled gently behind her. “There would have always been you standing there… just you… the one that I was really waiting for…”

Elizabeth’s hand hovered over a final picture, this one a small painting of a little girl with wild dark hair and laughing green eyes holding Elizabeth’s hand. She picked it up gently and turned, holding the frame lightly in her hands.

“Lorne painted for me,” John said, his still green eyes wistful. “He thought it was a little weird, but he owed me one… so…” He shrugged without thought, wincing slightly when the movement caused him pain.

John sighed, “I needed to remember…” He met her eyes. “And I have…”

He walked forward, leaning heavily on his cane. Gently, he took the picture from Elizabeth. “I remember everything, Beth.”

He set the picture back on the mantelpiece and took the sight of Elizabeth all in.

“You look even better than I remember.”

Elizabeth smiled softly and reached to brush her hand gently through John’s gray, unruly hair.

“And you still need a haircut,” she said tenderly before kissing him softly.

“Elizabeth, you still think I’m hot,” he said with a with a familiar lopsided grin that brought out the sparkle in his green eyes and made the laugh lines around them dance.

She was surprised into a joyous laugh.

“I missed that…” John said quietly. “I missed you.”

“I’m here,” Elizabeth whispered. “I’m here, and I won’t leave without you this time.”

“I thought that they had rules against messing around with us humans.”

“I don’t care… besides, they need me,” Elizabeth replied confidently.

John gave her a look. “I thought that that was my MO, bucking the system.”

“What can I say, you’re a bad influence.”

“Hey, no way you’re pinning this on me, we haven’t been together for thirty-nine years,” John replied with quiet humor.

“You’ve always been with me,” Elizabeth replied with gentle sincerity. She brought his hand to her heart. “Always.”

John looked to his age spotted hand resting against the white fabric of Elizabeth’s gown. “Elizabeth…”

She looked down herself. “I’m not leaving without you,” she whispered. “One way or another,” she added in a low voice.

“Lizabeth…”

“One way or another,” she repeated, urging him to meet her eyes.

He licked his lips and she smiled at seeing the familiar old gesture.

“Do you trust me?”

“With my life,” John replied without hesitation.

Elizabeth lead him to a living room chair and waited patiently as he settled himself. Then quietly, she knelt before him and reached up to trace familiar features well-worn by time. Finally, she cradled his face in her hands and kissed him softly.

John’s last breath left his body with a sigh and a soft rattle.

“That tingled,” he said as Elizabeth stepped back, letting John rise from the chair. “And you know… I think I’m not going to look back…” he added with a wry grin. “Did you?” he asked curiously after a moment.

Elizabeth shook her head. “No…”

John looked down to his hands and flexed them experimentally, clearly pleased to see the muscles working smoothly once more beneath the skin.

Elizabeth smiled and stepped forward to brush her hands through his unruly, dark hair. “You still need a haircut,” she said fondly.

“Maybe…” John conceded. “But there’s no way I’m getting all Ancienty,” he said, indicating Elizabeth’s white gown with a small, vague sort of gesture.

She raised an eyebrow. “Ancienty?”

“Ancienty,” John repeated with a small nod.

“How long before they find…”

“…Out what I’ve helped you do?” Elizabeth completed the question.

John nodded.

“Long enough,” she answered.

John gave Elizabeth his old wicked grin. “Long enough?”

She raised an eyebrow and laughed before she could stop herself.

“I think I liked those stars… I wonder if we could do something like that ourselves,” John mused.

Elizabeth laughed again. “Come with me.”

“Try stopping me…” John said with a grin as he took her offered hand and their forms faded in a glow of light…

_FIN_


End file.
